Rachel Seiffert is one of Virago's most critically acclaimed contemporary novelists. She has published four novels and one collection of short stories. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dublin Impac Award and longlisted three time for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. In the finale episode of this season of Ourshelves, Rachel and Lucy discuss the lasting power of individual Jewish women’s resistance and endurance during WWII, the added weight of historical fiction inspir...
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 10
Annie Hodson is a queer writer and playwright from York, and one of the 40-strong cohort of the London Library’s 2022-2023 emerging writers’ programme. She has just won the Virago short story competition, with her story ‘Banshee’, which will appear in the paperback of Furies in spring 2025. Lucy and Annie dive into Annie’s earliest introduction to Virago through her aunt’s vast collection of ‘green spines’, the joy of bookclubs and the weird and wonderful power of Barbara Loden’s film, ‘Wanda’. ...
Oct 26, 2023•41 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Audrey Osler is Professor Emerita of Citizenship and Human Rights Education at the University of Leeds. Her latest book, Where Are You From? No, Where Are You Really From? will be published by Virago in November and looks at the British Empire through the history of one family. This week, join us as Audrey and Lucy dive into ‘Britishness’ and the conflict between identity and belonging; the varied research methods Audrey uses to uncover the minute details of individual lives in history; and the ...
Oct 05, 2023•46 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Victoria Belim is a writer, journalist, and translator of Persian literature and poetry. She speaks eighteen languages, including Japanese, Turkish, and Indonesian. Her memoir, The Rooster House , was published earlier this year by Virago and explores her search for the truth behind an unmentioned family secret - and the Ukrainian people's complex relationship with their Soviet history. In this episode, Victoria and Lucy Scholes unpick Victoria’s fascination with learning languages; the rich tra...
Sep 14, 2023•40 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Emma Donoghue is an acclaimed writer whose novels include the international bestsellers Room and The Wonder . She wrote the short story ‘Turmagant’ in Virago’s recent collection of short stories, Furies, and her upcoming novel, Learned By Heart , publishes on 24th August 2023. On this episode, Emma and Lucy Scholes dive into the varied cultural reach of novels, short stories and films, the genius of Angela Carter, the long overdue recognition of Ann Lister and how the ‘Barbie’ film masters trick...
Aug 30, 2023•48 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Natasha Walter is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, a journalist and human rights activist. Her books include The New Feminism and Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism , which was reissued as one of Virago’s 50thAnniversary Five Gold reads this year. On this episode of Ourshelves, Natasha and Lucy Scholes discuss the continued relevance of Living Dolls in terms of the unfinished revolution of feminism and the ongoing effort to liberate ourselves, as women, from stereotypes. They also dive ...
Aug 16, 2023•58 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Are families a refuge or a prison? Join Veronica Raimo as she talks with Lucy Scholes about the line between fiction and auto-fiction, drawing the curtain back on the creative process, and the many idiosyncrasies of language that arise during the translation of fiction. Veronica Raimo is the author of four novels, the most recent of which, Lost On Me ( Niente di Vero ) was a huge bestseller in Italy, that was shortlisted for the Premio Strega Prize and won the Strega Giovani Prize and the Viareg...
Aug 02, 2023•48 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Kirsty Logan is a novelist and short story writer. She’s the author of Now She is Witch , Things We Say In The Dark , The Gloaming , The Gracekeepers , A Portable Shelter , and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales . To mark the publication of her new book, The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir , she talks with Lucy Scholes about writing like no one is reading, pregnancy journeys, disobedient bodies, the gift of sperm donation, and breaking the rules of memoir writing. Hosted on Acast. See...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Join Lucy Scholes as she talks with American author Mecca Jamilah Sullivan about her debut novel, Big Girl – reviewed by the New York Times as ‘achingly beautiful’ – about a young black girl growing up in 1990s Harlem. On the table for discussion is coming-of-age fiction, beauty standards, women’s bodies and matrilineal traditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 05, 2023•49 min•Season 6Ep. 2
On the premiere episode of this special series of Ourshelves, commemorating Virago’s 50th anniversary, join Caroline O'Donoghue, New York Times best-selling author and the host of the award-winning podcast Sentimental Garbage , as she talks about her new novel, The Rachel Incident. Listen as Caroline and Lucy Scholes discuss the intersection of Irish women’s fiction with the history of reproductive rights in Ireland, actively reading people you don’t agree with, the emptiness of the phrase ‘girl...
Jun 21, 2023•44 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Shahrukh Husain, editor of The Virago Book of Witches , who says it represents ` womanhood in all its complexity’ is not at all surprised to see a resurgence of interest in `all things witchy’. The witch knows her strength, defies authority and embodies our current fears of injustice. Shah tells Lucy how the witch can be playful but also terrifying, particularly to men, and about a childhood fascination for the witch. The writer she admires is Attia Hussain, author of Sunlight on a Broken Column...
Oct 28, 2022•48 min•Season 5Ep. 12
In this special bonus summer episode Sharma Taylor, author of What a Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You , takes us to the heated demi-monde of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1980s, a turbulent time in politics and gangland crime. She tells Lucy Scholes about writing in patois; the Caribbean authors right now who are representing the strength of women in society; and what her mother sacrificed to buy her books as a child. On the nightstand: The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini On my mind: The p...
Aug 19, 2022•38 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Clare Chambers is the author of nine novels including Small Pleasures, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She joins Lucy Scholes to rave about the inimitable Barbara Pym, a Virago Modern Classic author whose love affairs shocked sixties society and who wrote about vicars’ tea parties with waspish humour and moving brilliance. (Tea: ‘a drink she did not much like because of the comfort it was said to bring to those whom she normally despised.’) Together they compare notes on adapting boo...
Jun 10, 2022•37 min•Season 5Ep. 10
How does writing about your life change the way you see it? Cathy Thomas talks to Lucy Scholes about her first book, Islanders, interlocking short stories set on her childhood home, Guernsey – the pleasure of joining the dots and how playwriting informed her structure. Discovering a shared love of Annie Ernaux’s essays, they dive deeply into whether difficult experiences – from publisher rejections to trauma – may be reframed through the power of writing. On the nightstand: We Were Young by Niam...
May 27, 2022•40 min•Season 5Ep. 9
How can men approach their role as feminist allies? Lucy Scholes meets Stuart Evers, award-winning author of four books including Your Father Sends His Love and The Blind Light as they discuss his introduction to the new Virago Modern Classic edition of Anna Seghers’ brilliant novel Transit, and how its depiction of people caught in the Second World War reminded him of Ukrainians caught in the complex British visa system. He argues about whether Transit is a love story or not, challenges himself...
May 13, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 8
What does it take for a woman to migrate thousands of miles across prairies and mountains? Join Katie Hickman, author of Brave Hearted and She-Merchants, Buccaneers and Gentlewomen as she talks with Lucy Scholes about the unique voices of the women who made the Wild West, the strength of oral storytelling and the damage that was done to abortion rights in the USA by religious organisations. From the Americas to Indonesia, the discovery of precious materials has meant a death sentence for indigen...
Apr 29, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 7
What happens if you don’t fall in love with your baby at first sight? Join Kate Maxwell and Lucy Scholes as they challenge silent taboos about motherhood, from Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter to Kate’s first novel Hush , about a woman who struggles with her decision to have a child on her own. Kate’s recommendations: On the nightstand: What I Loved , Siri Hustvedt and The Bread the Devil Knead , Lisa Allen-Agostini On your mind: WeCrashed, Apple TV series On the shelf: Matrix , Lauren Groff O...
Apr 15, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 6
If you spend 288 pages deep in the life of a disabled person, can that experience shift your concept of disability? Join Chloé Cooper Jones, journalist, Pulitzer nominee and author of the new memoir Easy Beauty , as she talks with Lucy Scholes about how beauty can create a powerful mental shift. They discuss the social and political act of making the disabled body visible, the meaning of staring and ask Lewis Hamilton to teach Chloé Formula 1 Racing. Chloé’s recommendations: On the nightstand – ...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 5
How does food connect us to our cultural identity? Get hungry listening to Claire Kohda talk to Lucy Scholes about her debut novel Woman, Eating , which follows a mixed-race vampire in contemporary London. Claire admits she avoided reading Dracula , explores the yōkai of traditional Japanese mythology and explains how listening to Asian recipes reminds her of her mother. Claire’s recommendations: On the nightstand: Where The Wild Ladies Are, by Matsuda Aoko, translated by Polly Barton, published...
Mar 18, 2022•43 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Doreen Cunningham, author of Soundings , followed the grey whales to the Arctic and she brings what she learnt on her journey into conversation with Lucy Scholes. Listen to Doreen explain how the very grammar of the Inupiat language gives the speaker a more respectful relationship with animals, how the trauma of poverty lingers and how her heroine is a grey whale named Earheart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 04, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Discovery with CN Lester How do we keep fighting when there seems to be no hope? CN Lester is a musician, academic, activist and author of Trans Like Me and they tell Lucy Scholes the best advice they’ve been given for continuing to work in the face of backlash. Join their fascinating conversation on their discovery of women composers of the Italian Baroque (who should never have been forgotten!), their newfound love for Ursula K Le Guin (who should have won a Nobel Prize!), and their deeply per...
Feb 18, 2022•59 min•Season 5Ep. 2
George Saunders calls Dana Spiotta a ‘great American writer’. It’s true - but why does it feel so surprising to hear a woman given that accolade. Join Lucy Scholes as she meets the award-winning author of Wayward and four other novels, celebrating the rare joy and complexity of midlife characters, from the accused widow in Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen to Olivia Colman’s haunting performance in ‘The Lost Daughter’. Together they ask: Why is this moment in life so disturb...
Feb 04, 2022•52 min•Season 5Ep. 1
OurShelves celebrates the end of Season 4 with the beloved Monica Ali, a fellow of Royal Society of Literature, Patron of the Hopscotch Women’s Centre, and bestselling author of Brick Lane and the upcoming Love Marriage , her wonderful, complex and optimistic book about the entangled lives of two very different families – which kept Lucy Scholes up late at night turning the pages. She asks Monica how she gestated this book for ten years, how she made her less likeable characters empathic and how...
Dec 17, 2021•48 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Kaitlyn Greenidge, acclaimed author of Libertie and We Love You, Charlie Freeman , has written the new introduction to Ann Petry’s landmark Virago Modern Classics novel The Narrows. She takes a deep dive into Black American history, where Petry’s writing depicts an interior life under the unrelenting gaze of whiteness. Join her conversation with Lucy Scholes to find out why a single mother and Beat poet put speed in her coffee, more realistic alternatives to Emily in Paris and the concept of gen...
Nov 26, 2021•47 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Megan Abbott, Edgar-award winning author of eight novels including the HBO series-adapted Dare Me and her latest ballet school-set The Turnout is celebrated for her dark, precise depictions of young women in hothouse environments. She tells Lucy Scholes how thrillers honour women’s instincts of fear, why she’s too shy to write true crime and her admiration for a female film director flipping the script on nudity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 12, 2021•41 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Do we see being a carer as a feminist failure? Claire Oshetsky’s new novel Chouette is about raising a non-conforming child, represented by a wild but lovable owl-baby. In this episode of Ourshelves she talks with Lucy Scholes about how wrapping what started out as a memoir in a fantastical world made it possible to be honest, especially about the violence of motherhood. They compare their favourite books about feral children, discuss the role of white feminism in the Afghanistan war, and celebr...
Oct 29, 2021•47 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Backstage with Eileen Atkins How does the writing we love create the roles we perform? Join Dame Eileen Atkins, stage and TV star, three-time Olivier Award winner and screenwriter of ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ and ‘Mrs Dalloway’ talk about her autobiography, Will She Do? She tells Lucy Scholes how she created the first entertainment about servants inspired by her parents’ lives, how a casting director got her addicted to the books of Virginia Woolf and how women in repertory theatre felt in charge. ...
Oct 15, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Donna Coonan is Editorial Director of the Virago Modern Classics list, which was set up 1978 to demonstrate the existence of a necessary canon of women’s writing and to challenge the sometimes narrow definition of what a ‘classic’ is. Since 2005, she has brought over 200 new books including those by Muriel Spark, Barbara Pym and Patricia Highsmith to this beloved list with its iconic green spines. Join Lucy Scholes as she fangirls with Donna about the VMCs and find out how she does the detective...
Oct 01, 2021•46 min•Season 4Ep. 5
How do you say ‘Me Too’ in Chinese – when it’s banned on social media? 吕频 Lü Pin, Chinese feminist activist featured in Awakening by Rachel Vogelstein and Meighan Stone, talks to Lucy Scholes about her work challenging gender-based violence in a state without freedom of speech or protest. Through ingenuity, humour and sheer determination, she says, because ‘nobody’ – not even the Chinese government – ‘can control everything’. She remembers the first time she read something which taught her to be...
Sep 17, 2021•37 min•Season 4Ep. 4
How do we get through the difficult days? Susie Boyt, author and theatre director, got through the pandemic by walking for miles listening to poetry podcasts to replace the conversations she’d have with friends about books. Here, she tells Lucy Scholes how she had a feminist awakening watching a play where women honoured the horror their friend went through; the sheer joy between grandmother and granddaughter in her latest novel Loved and Missed ; and why Judy Garland is her ultimate heroine. Ho...
Sep 03, 2021•51 min•Season 4Ep. 3
